Parco Naturale Regionale delle Alpi Liguri

Piazza XX Settembre

18037 Pigna (IM)

Municipality: Pigna

Region: Liguria

The Museum shows the traditional rural life of the 19th century in Pigna and in the upper Nervia valley, between the Riviera and the Ligurian Alps. You will have the opportunity to see shepherds crossing the mountains with their herds, farmers working to harvest and distill lavender and other medicinal plants, or to grow wheat, grapevine and olive trees in the fields around the medieval village, where many artisans also worked: cobblers, carpenters or blacksmiths. Several objects remind visitors of this world: old tools, objects of everyday life, photos and historical documents, videos.

The museum, open since 1995, is located just in the old town center, near the San Michele Church. Five rooms extending over 200 square meters are dedicated to the village's traditions.
The collection has been called "La Terra e la Memoria" (The Land and the Memories) because through the exhibition of objects, tools and photos, it offers the opportunity to come into contact with a rural culture that survived in a medieval architectural environment. Here the space is dedicated to the lessons taught by the land, together with the traditional cultivation of wheat and olive trees, and the shepherd as well as handicraft activities. These activities are strictly connected with the history written in the documents, with the artworks exhibited in the churches of the village and with the worships, with the religious processions or other ceremonies which characterized the village's social life to the music of the band: all these "memories" allow visitors to be aware of the richness of this extraordinary heritage.

• Room 1: sheep farming and distillation of lavender
• Room 2: faith and everyday life
• Room 3: the artisans
• Room 4: wheat harvesting
• Room 5: olive oil and wine